Last week, Your Survival Guy wrote to you about his money. Here’s a recap: save a third, spend a third, and pay taxes with a third. Own your home. Stay out of debt. And invest for dividends, dividend increases, and income. Keep what you make and live to fight another day. But this is a more laid-back piece for you today. Today, let’s talk about spending and the importance of living your life to keep you young. Because it makes all the difference in the world. Within reason, of course.
Your Survival Guy and Gal recently celebrated our 25th wedding anniversary in Anguilla. Located in the British West Indies, our last name of Smith made us feel like locals in no time. And with only 14,000 or so residents, it seems like everyone knew our name by the time we left. It’s not unusual to see your server at breakfast working at a nearby restaurant at dinner.
When it comes to spending and taking trips, it’s the anticipation, the thinking about it, and planning that’s half the fun. It gets you through a lot of rainy Saturdays in New England, thinking about frozen pina coladas on the beach and planning activities for your trip. Not that we’re beach people, but we adjust accordingly. I’m Your Survival Guy, after all.
Getting to Anguilla can be a bit of planes, boats, and automobiles. Landing in St. Maarten, we took a transfer boat to Anguilla, about a 20-minute ride in some rough water, and a 15-minute car ride put us at the front security gate of Cap Juluca, a Belmond Hotel. If you want to get away from it all, this is your place. Relaxation is the key word. But it doesn’t have to be. Because everyone’s having fun and meeting new friends to keep in touch with back home is a big part of it.
Don’t be in a rush, though. You’re on island time. Not that they observe daylight savings. They don’t. Imagine my surprise when my iPhone matched the time on my watch the next morning. “Now that’s service,” I thought to myself. And then realized the time doesn’t change there. I was happy to gain the extra hour when we got back home.
Enjoy exploring outside the resort with your Moke. Visit nearby Prickley Pear Island off the coast for some lunch. Snorkel. Listen to music. Read a book. Think about your next meal. You’re on vacation. Note: The sun is blazing hot. I didn’t think I’d last a week. But when it came time to leave, we felt like we were just settling in. But it was time. You can only spend so much. And home is sweet.
Action Line: If you want to talk about Anguilla, let me know. I feel like I’m a local now. One love.
Originally posted on Your Survival Guy.
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